Parents, grandparents and caregivers are being encouraged to take advantage of free non-judgmental car seat checks by expert Child Restraint Technicians on Saturday 22 June.

The events, at ARST Community Hall in Mangere [53 Skipton St], will see expert Child Restraint Technicians offer free safety checks of your children’s car seats. There will also be mechanics on hand to install free anchor bolts for tether straps for seats that require these.

Rachael Hannah, one of the Trustees of Cheeks in Seats, a national charity organising the event, says: “As a parent it can be daunting to try and install a car seat correctly, and it’s not always easy to get it right first time.”

“These free car seat checking events offer parents and caregivers the chance to get their seat checked by qualified Child Restraint Technicians who can ensure it is installed safely and give advice on how to improve things if they aren’t quite right, without fear of judgment or getting a fine.”

“In our experience approximately 80% of child restraints checked at road side checkpoints turn out to be installed incorrectly, and our own statistics from similar events held in Auckland, Northland and Wellington last year were even higher, with 94% of the seats we checked at events in Auckland found to be incorrectly installed.”

“Even if you think your seats are installed correctly, we would encourage you to come along and check them for your peace of mind. Often things that seem like minor adjustments to the way the seat is installed can greatly improve the safety of the seat and the way it will perform in an accident. We only get one chance in an accident – so this is one way of ensuring things are correct.”

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